SteelStacks venue further revives former Steel site

ArtsQuest Center includes cinemas, Musikfest Café, food, more

April 14, 2011|By Nicole Radzievich, OF THE MORNING CALL

Since the bleak days when Bethlehem Steel went cold, Lehigh Valley leaders have spent 16 years brainstorming, engineering and, sometimes, arguing over how to get one of the country's largest industrial wastelands back to life.

So Thursday was a day for celebration. More than 630 businesspeople, elected officials and donors gathered to mark the dedication of the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks — the $26.6 million performing arts venue that will anchor a new arts and cultural campus in the heart of the old plant.

Punctuated by music from local performers and an awesome view of the blast furnaces, local leaders toasted to a destination they hope will not only help the city rebuild its economy but also become a selling point in attracting a creative workforce.

Pennsylvania first lady Susan Corbett, the new chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, told the crowd that the work ethic and imagination that made Bethlehem isn't in its old mills but its people.

She contrasted how SteelStacks would bring people to the old plant site for concerts, films and more with how places in Europe attract people only to see "stately ruins."

"Americans accept trial and change, but they don't settle for ruination. We prefer things that rise from the ashes, even long after the fires from the blast furnaces have gone out," she told an applauding crowd. "So it's hard not to think of this place and the people who have remade it and feel a bit of pride."

Corbett's appearance highlighted a three-hour dedication and reception that included acknowledgement of supporters, speeches and entertainment at the Musikfest Café. Musikfest Café, which holds its first public concert May 1, is the centerpiece of the four-story ArtsQuest Center. The café will include live, ticketed concerts in a room that fills the third and fourth floors.

Other features, which open at 4 p.m. Friday, include 100- and 200-seat cinemas, restaurants, a loft and a multi-purpose room.

The ArtsQuest Center is the first to open on what is planned as a $72 million arts and cultural campus with an outdoor stage, plazas, town square, visitors center and the PBS39 broadcast station. The campus is part of a nearly $2 billion redevelopment that also includes the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and the Bethlehem Commerce Center.

The expectations for SteelStacks are high: 750,000 visitors, 1,200 performances, and programming 365-days a year. There will be festivals, farmers markets, films, live comedy and more. All told, organizers estimate a $39 million boost to the local economy.

Leaders at ArtsQuest, which runs the Banana Factory, Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt — acknowledge they have work ahead. But they took time out to recognize those who helped them open the doors.

The first song performed was the "Star-Spangled Banner" sung by Mackenzie Custon, a student at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts. The improvisation group The Associated Mess did a rendition of the "Twelve Days of SteelStacks" and the faculty of the Lesson Center in Bethlehem performed "Rock Steady."

But the real star of the show was the close-up view of the blast furnaces, of which Mayor John Callahan admitted he kept stealing glances through the two-story windows.

He said the city could have redeveloped the property much quicker if it had just "capped the site" and brought in "a lot of big boxes."

"We all recognized how special this place was, how important this was, and maintain that sense of place and respect our past and building a new future, building a future sometimes around our past, and that's what this project more than anything means to me," Callahan said.

ArtsQuest President Jeff Parks handed out three dozen orange glass plaques to donors, elected officials and businesspeople in recognition of their support. He said they made the last nine years "an adventure of a lifetime" and likened what was taking place at the old Steel property to something that happened more than 50 years ago.

In 1959, during the Steel strikes, Walter Dealtry gathered local leaders to come up with the concept of the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park, diversifying the region's economy and making it stronger for the day when companies like Bethlehem Steel would leave.

"More than the buildings and plazas, SteelStacks is about the programs," Parks said. "The buildings and venues were designed to meet the needs of the fastest growing region in our state. As the Lehigh Valley continues to expand the economic base, we need to create the amenities that will attract the creative workforce in the 21st century."

Meet me at the Stacks:

The following is a list of key dates for the SteelStacks arts and cultural campus: